Roll stamped Ni/MWCNT composites for highly reliable cellulose paper-based strain sensor

Printing technology for electronic devices has garnered considerable attention owing to its rapid and massive productivity under ambient conditions. In this study, a facile approach is proposed for manufacturing cellulose paper-based strain sensors with Ni/multi-walled carbon nanotube (MWCNT) composites using roll stamping technology. This process enables the fabrication of stable sensing structures owing to the formation of stable Ni core-enveloping structures in the MWCNT interlacing network. In particular, the rheological properties of the composites revealed shear thinning and thixotropic behavior, which resulted in fine printing of the sensing electrodes. Furthermore, the shape of the printed patterns, imparted by the pattern morphology, significantly influenced the strain-sensing performance. In particular, the Ni/MWCNT composite-based strain sensor exhibited a higher gauge factor of 13.9, with a high sensing recovery of 90.4% and stability over 23,500 bending cycles.